


“No, Sirius, tying the stems of flowers together will NOT make a flower crown”

by dduucckk



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: :), Coming Out, Fluff, I make hand holding into a Big Deal, James is oblivious, Lots of blushing, M/M, Marauders, Marauders era, Mutual Pining, Pining, and pining, they're just really sweet and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25242601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dduucckk/pseuds/dduucckk
Summary: In which Sirius can’t make a flower crown, Remus thinks Sirius might be flirting, and James has no clue what’s going on.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 29
Kudos: 178





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlwithacrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlwithacrown/gifts).



> I saw [this amazing art](https://girlwithacrown.tumblr.com/post/623449769542647808/marauders-and-flower-crowns-thank-godric-james) (artist - wolfstars_ on instagram, girlwithacrown on tumblr and ao3), and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I wrote a fic. Enjoy!

Remus left the castle and walked across the lawn, where he could see Sirius sitting by himself, waiting for his friends’ classes to end so they could come join him.

“Hey Padfoot.”

“Hey Moons.”

“What’s, uh, that?”

“A flower crown!” Sirius held up the messy string of flowers proudly. Remus picked it up and coughed to cover up his laugh.

“That’s not how you make a flower crown, Pads.”

“What do you mean it’s not? The flowers are all attached to each other.”

“You don’t knot them together like that, you—actually I’ll just show you, can you pass me some flowers?”

Remus sat down in the grass and took the orange flowers that Sirius conjured up. He wove them together, slowly and carefully so as not to break the stems or jostle any petals loose.

He could feel Sirius’s eyes on him, and willed himself not to blush under his friend’s scrutiny. He turned his head just a little bit, just enough to see Sirius out of the corner of his eye, and his fingers stuttered in their movements. Sirius wasn’t watching his hands, as Remus had expected, but was studying his face with a small smile. He looked almost…fond? No, Remus told himself, that was impossible. He would know if Sirius returned his feelings. Wouldn’t he?

Sirius’s eyes met Remus’s and Remus’s stomach dropped as he realized he’d been caught. Sirius blushed, but didn’t look away.

“Remus?”

“Yeah?” Remus still didn’t look at Sirius fully, but he lowered the flowers to his lap.

“I, um.” Sirius tugged on the hem of his shirt, twisting it around his fingers. “I—”

“Hello lads!” shouted a voice behind them. Remus and Sirius both whipped around to see James striding towards them, already loosening his tie as he threw his bag to the ground and sat down next to it. “What are we up to?”

“Making flower crowns,” Remus said, forcing a smile onto his face.

“Sounds fun! Can I do it?”

Sirius, who had barely even looked at James, waved his wand and a bouquet of purple flowers appeared. “Go wild.”

Happily oblivious to Sirius’s bad mood, James picked up the flowers and started tying the stems together.

“No, not like that, Merlin James, no don’t rip them apart—sweet holy fuck. No. Just—here watch me. You too, Sirius, if you want to keep making them. Look, you wrap it like this, and then you do this, yes, okay, not bad James, you’re getting the hang of it, Sirius _no_ , here, let me help you—”

 _Bad idea_ , Remus thought as he practically held Sirius’s hands to guide them through the movements. _Very, very bad idea_. He only dared to look up at Sirius once, a quick glance through the hair falling into his eyes, and Sirius was looking right back at him, that same strange expression on his face. Remus quickly sat back, telling Sirius that he was doing an excellent job and didn’t need any more help.

“Who are we making these for?” James asked.

Remus’s eyes darted over to Sirius, who was intently focused on the growing flower chain in his hands. “Mine’s for Sirius.” _It doesn’t mean anything it doesn’t mean anything it doesn’t mean anyth—_

“I’ll make Moony’s!” Sirius smiled at Remus so brightly that Remus was sure he would melt. James, however, was less than happy about making his own crown.

“We should all make each other’s crowns! Remus does Sirius’s, Sirius does mine, and I do Remus’s!”

“Why can’t I make Moony’s?”

“Because he’s already making yours.”

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus. “That’s a stupid idea.”

“Why should I make my own crown when you guys are making each other’s? That’s a stupider idea.”

“You’re a stupider idea.”

To Remus’s eternal gratitude, Peter showed up before the argument had the chance to turn into a fight, and when they told him they were making each other flower crowns, he sat down to watch. But not join in, because “These things are much more interesting from afar, you get it, Remus.”

Remus did get it.

“Pads.”

“Yes, James?”

“Can you make me a lily?”

“What?”

“The flower? For my crown?”

Sirius sighed. “Yes, James, I’ll put a lily in it.”

“Yay!”

Remus finished his crown and, with a flourish, presented it to Sirius, who dropped the one he was making and ignored James’s protests as he placed Remus’s crown on his head.

“How do I look?” He was looking straight at Remus, his voice quiet, private. _You look beautiful_ , Remus thought. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak.

“You look,” James said, throwing an arm over Sirius’s shoulder, “magnificent, fabulous, and stunning, all at once. I’ve never seen anything better in my life, and that’s including Lily Evans.” He paused, thinking. “Actually, I take that back. I’m not including Evans.”

James somehow missed the ferocious glare Sirius was sending in his direction, and happily went back to his flowers. Peter glanced at Remus and they both barely managed to hold back a laugh.

“Remus, can you come help me with something?” Sirius held up his flowers, and Remus went over to take a look.

“It all looks fine, Sirius.”

“Oh. Okay. You can stay sitting here, if you want.”

“Um, yeah sure.”

“Guys, I’m done the crown! Remus, come put it on!”

Remus heaved a disappointed sigh, but got up and walked over with a smile, and let James put the crown on his head.

“What do you think, Sirius?” James asked as he spun Remus to face Sirius. 

Sirius’s eyes widened, his cheeks flushed slightly, and he said, “magnificent, fabulous, and stunning all at once.”

Remus felt his cheeks heat up, but he couldn’t look away from Sirius’s stare.

James ruined the moment by snatching his crown out of Sirius’s hands. “How are you still not done with this?” he complained. “Where’s the lily?” Sirius handed him the final flower and James wove it in, finishing the crown and placing it on his head.

“One last thing,” Sirius said. He stood up on his tiptoes and broke a couple of sticks off the end of a tree branch. He stuck them into James’s crown like antlers and declared it “absolute perfection, Prongs, Lily won’t be able to resist you now.”

“Really?” James asked hopefully. 

Peter snorted. “I don’t know if that’s your best bet, James.”

“Well I’m going to try anyway.”

“Before you do that,” Peter said, taking his camera out of his bag, “I need a picture of this so that we can always remember the flower crowns, even after Lily tears James’s apart.”

“She won’t do that.”

Peter looked doubtful, but didn’t say anything. James came up behind Remus and Sirius and threw his arms around them, a big grin on his face. Remus still couldn’t keep his eyes off of Sirius, who was staring right back and Remus was sure, so sure that there was something there. No one would look at their completely utterly one hundred percent platonic friends like that, he was sure.

Remus barely noticed when Peter took the picture, but he did notice whe James grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the castle, insisting that the rest of the Marauders come with him to look for Lily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning a second chapter, so keep an eye out for that! I have no idea when it's going to be posted, but hopefully sometime this week :)


	2. Chapter 2

“No, Evans, wait!”

“Fuck off, Potter, I don’t care about your flower crown.”

“Evans!”

Sirius leaned over and whispered to Remus, “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be in the line of fire when she starts hexing him.”

Remus shivered at the warm breath brushing the side of his face, and he let Sirius pull him up the stairs to their dorm. As the door swung shut behind him, Remus could hear Lily threatening James with everything from castration to a bat bogey hex, and he was glad they left when they did.

Remus sat on his bed and carefully took the flower crown out of his hair.

“No, don’t do that!” Sirius crossed the room in a few quick steps and plucked the crown from Remus’s hands. He put it back on Remus’s head, brushing his curls this way and that, and the butterflies in Remus’s stomach were doing somersaults. Finally, Sirius stepped back and, with a smile, he pronounced Remus, “Perfectly gorgeous.”

Remus blushed. “Sure, Pads.”

“I’m not joking, Remus. You look like a prince in those muggle fairy tales.”

“I don’t think those princes wore flower crowns.”

“A fairy prince, then, come to steal away a beautiful princess and make her your Queen.”

Remus couldn’t look at Sirius then. “I don’t know about that,” he mumbled. “‘Princess’ doesn’t sound quite right.”

“Oh?” If Remus had looked up, he would have seen Sirius looking at him with wide, hopeful eyes. It was probably a good thing Remus didn’t look up.

He took a deep breath. “I’d prefer a prince.” He said it so quietly that Sirius could barely hear it, almost thought he imagined it, but then Remus darted a nervous glance up at him, and he knew it was real.

Sirius sat down on the bed next to him. “Me too,” he said, just as quietly, and then Remus looked at him properly, just as wide eyed and hopeful as Sirius had been only moments before. Sirius put his hand on the bed between them. Remus put his next to Sirius’s. Their fingers brushed. Remus couldn’t look at Sirius as he turned his hand, hooked their fingers together. He heard Sirius’s breath hitch, felt his hand tighten around Remus’s. They sat there for a few minutes, neither of them speaking, each one too nervous to look at the other, both treasuring the feeling of his friend’s hand in his own.

They heard footsteps on the stairs and sprang apart as though they had been something far more incriminating than hand holding. James stormed into the room a few seconds later, completely oblivious to his friends’ bright red faces and inability to look at each other. Peter, who followed close behind him, noticed, but was quickly distracted by James’s complaints about the flower crown.

“What’s the point of it if Lily doesn’t like it?” he said as he threw himself onto his bed in despair. Sirius took the opportunity to leap onto James, landing on his stomach and earning himself an elbow to the chin as James struggled to push him off. The tussle ended in Sirius laying on his back next to James, who had his face buried in his pillow and was still bemoaning his failed attempt at romance.

“Just because Lily doesn’t like it doesn’t mean other people won’t,” Remus offered.

Sirius agreed. “I’m sure lots of people will like it very much.” he shot Remus a pointed look as he spoke, and he felt a surge of satisfaction at Remus’s blush.

“I don’t want anyone else to like it,” James said. He turned onto his back and stared up at the canopy. “Why doesn’t she like me? What have I ever done to her?”

Remus, Sirius, and Peter all exchanged a look, and all silently agreed that, for the sake of all of their sanity, they wouldn’t point out the obvious.

“Prongs, I honestly think you just need to get over her,” Peter said. “Or at least don’t be so obvious about it. Is there anyone else you like even a little bit?”

James thought for a moment. “There’s that one Hufflepuff girl I was paired with in Herbology last week. She’s really pretty. Funny, too.”

“There you go!” Sirius grinned. “Why don’t you go find her, see if she’s in the library or the Great Hall. And take Pete for moral support,” he added with a less than subtle glance at Remus.

James sat up. “You know what, Sirius? That’s actually a really good idea. Maybe Lily will see me with her and get jealous!” He tumbled out of the bed and strode to the door. Peter followed him, trying to explain that the point of this wasn’t to make Lily jealous, but his words fell on deaf ears. James shut the door behind him with a big grin and Sirius groaned.

“It’s not going to work, is it?” he asked.

“Oh, definitely not,” Remus said, “and I feel bad for the girl. I talked to her a bit, she’s very sweet and I’d hate for her to get hurt because James is an idiot.”

Sirius shrugged. “Too late now, I guess.”

An awkward silence descended on the room as the two boys simply stared at each other. Remus hated it. He had never felt awkward around Sirius before, and he wasn’t going to start now.

“Let’s go down to the kitchens and see if we can find some snacks,” Remus suggested.

“Great idea!” Sirius sounded just a little bit too enthusiastic, but Remus was glad he hadn’t objected. He wasn’t sure if he could handle another conversation like the one they’d had earlier.

Shaking off those thoughts, Remus opened the door to their dorm and made his way down the stairs. He could feel Sirius behind him, conscious of the other boy’s presence in a way he usually wasn’t, despite his years-long crush on his friend. Right now, Remus felt like he could hear Sirius’s heartbeat if he tried hard enough. _Or if you had your head on his chest,_ a traitorous little voice pointed out. _Your head on his chest, his arms around you, imagine how lovely and cozy that would be._

“Fuck off,” Remus muttered.

“Sorry?” Sirius asked. 

Remus felt his heart skip a beat. “Just, ah, not feeling great. The moon is in a couple days.” That much was true, and he hoped that Sirius would accept the explanation.

He did, stopping in his tracks and laying a gentle hand on Remus’s shoulder. “Are you okay? If you’d rather go back to bed and rest while I get us some food, you can do that.”

Remus smiled. “I appreciate the concern, Sirius, but I’m perfectly fine to go get snacks with you. I’ll tell you if I need to go back to bed, okay?”

Sirius eyed him suspiciously, but nodded. He left his hand where it was for a few more seconds, and those few seconds made Remus’s heart beat at an embarrassingly fast pace, but then Sirius let his hand fall and they kept on walking.

They were almost at the kitchens now, and Remus was sure that Sirius hadn’t been walking this close to him when they first left Gryffindor Tower. Every couple of steps, their hands would brush together, and Remus’s pulse would spike, and he could feel his face heating up, and then Sirius would move away just enough that they weren’t touching, and Remus would calm down, and then Sirius’s hand would brush against his again.

After the fifth or sixth time this happened, Remus decided it was time to take action. When Sirius’s hand touched his, instead of freezing up, Remus tentatively turned his hand just a little bit, just enough to tangle their fingers together. He heard Sirius’s quick inhale, saw the pink flush stain his pale cheeks. His eyes darted towards Remus, and when he saw that Remus was watching him, too, his cheeks went from pink to red, but his hand tightened around Remus’s.

They walked down the corridor hand in hand, and if either of them had had the courage to look at the other, they would have seen the exact same look of barely concealed delight and disbelief and pure happiness mirrored on each other’s faces.  


But when they entered the kitchens, Sirius dropped Remus’s hand and greeted the house elves as if nothing had happened, and Remus was left to wonder if it had meant anything at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I wrote that last sentence when I was editing, so it almost ended all happy and fluffy :)


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius kicked open the door of their dorm room and strode in. Remus followed him and nudged the door shut with his foot. He turned and immediately collided with Sirius, who had stopped in his tracks and was glaring at James and Peter.

“I thought you guys were going to try and find that Hufflepuff girl.” He walked across the room to his bed and tossed his armful of snacks on the cover. Remus did the same, then went to sit on his own bed. Sirius stood with his arms crossed, still scowling at James.

“What crawled up your ass?” James asked teasingly. Sirius growled, but didn’t say anything, just sat down on Remus’s bed. James frowned at him.

Remus, eager to change the subject, said, “What happened with that girl, James? Did you find her?”

“Yeah, I did.” James was still watching Sirius suspiciously. Sirius scooted into the middle of Remus’s bed and stretched out across it, lying on his back.

“And?” Remus prodded.

“He asked her out!” Peter said excitedly. James finally looked away from Sirius and nodded, a big smile on his face.

“I have a date for the next Hogsmeade trip!” he said. “That’ll definitely make Lily jealous.”

“That’s awesome, James!” Remus grinned, and chose to ignore the second part. “Now you just have to get the rest of us dates as well.”

Behind him, Sirius made a low growling noise and turned to wrap his arms around Remus’s waist. Remus felt a shiver run up his spine.

James squinted curiously at his friends. “Why are you guys still wearing your flower crowns?”

Peter covered up a laugh with an unconvincing cough.

Remus reached up and touched the flowers. “Uh, I don’t know. We just never took them off, I guess.”

Sirius’s arms tightened around Remus’s middle, and he said in a voice slightly muffled from the blankets, “It looks good on him.”

Remus wished he didn’t blush so easily. “It really doesn’t,” he mumbled.

“Yes it does,” Sirius said firmly. “Remember what I said earlier?”

Remus did remember what Sirius had said earlier. In fact, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it ever since Sirius had said it. Sirius sat up and looked at Remus, perhaps taking his silence to mean that he didn’t remember.

“You look beautiful,” he said softly. “You really do.”

Remus shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

James groaned. “Guys, this is boring! Remus, you look lovely, Sirius, so do you, now come on, let’s go play quidditch!” He leapt off the bed and took off down the stairs, shouting, “Last one there is the keeper!”

The other three boys sprinted after him. “Let’s just get Frank to be the keeper,” Remus called out. “He actually likes doing it!”

“You’re just saying that cause you’re last, Moony!” James shouted over his shoulder. Frank, who was sitting in the common room trying to write an essay, looked up as the Marauders barreled through.

“Did I hear something about Quidditch?”

“Come be our keeper and spare Moony the shame!” Sirius said as he ran past. Frank looked at his essay, then at the portrait swinging shut behind Remus. He put down his quill, screwed the cap on his ink bottle, and ran after them.

The quidditch pitch was, thankfully, empty, and they were spared the effort of kicking other people out. Each of the five boys grabbed a broom from the storage shed, then the Marauders split into teams. Sirius and Remus against James and Peter. They were all glad that Frank had decided to join them, because really, while Marauder Quidditch could be played with only four people, it worked best with five.

They stood on the grass, waiting for Frank to get the quaffle, and as James and Peter huddled together to discuss strategy, Sirius stood in front of Remus, openly watching him.

“You’re going to have to take off the flower crown,” he said.

Remus reached up to lift it off his head, but Sirius got there first, gently lifting the crown out of Remus’s curls. “You still look like my prince,” he whispered.

Remus’s heart stopped. “ _Your_ prince?”

“If you’d like.”

Remus knew his face must be bright red, but he felt a bit better when he saw the flush on Sirius’s face and the nervousness he was barely managing to hide.

“Okay, lads, here we go!” Remus jumped as Frank came jogging towards them. Sirius backed away, taking off his own flower crown and putting them both near the stands where they wouldn’t get damaged. All five boys gathered in the center of the pitch with their broomsticks, ready to start the game.

They took off, Frank holding the quaffle under one arm as he went to one set of goalposts. Since there was only one keeper, they would only be using one side of the pitch. They all gathered in a loose semicircle facing Frank. He tossed the quaffle up in the air, and the game began.

A game of Marauder Quidditch was twenty shots at the goal. The keeper had to count the shots, and the teams kept track of their points. Whichever team had the most points by the end of the game won. As an incentive for someone to be keeper, the Marauders had decided early on that if the keeper saved more goals than either team scored, then the keeper would be declared the winner.

Sirius was the first to catch the quaffle, but James was right next to him and ready to fight for it. Sirius tossed the ball to Remus, who caught it and before Peter could reach him, threw it at the goalposts. Frank just barely caught it.

“One!” he called out. He tossed the ball back in the general direction of the players, and they all sped forward to grab it.

The game continued in much the same way. Both teams were fiercely competitive, and after all the practice he’d had in playing with the Marauders for the past few years, Frank was an excellent keeper, making it a very close game.

“Twenty!” Frank shouted as he dove to catch the ball that had sailed past his ear and through the hoop.

Sirius let out a victory cry as he flew to the ground. “We won! Remus, we won!” Remus, who was much more careful on his broom than Sirius was, grinned at him from up in the air as he slowly descended to the ground. James and Peter joined Sirius much faster than Remus, grumbling about how the score was “basically a tie anyway, you guys only had one more point”, and Frank walked over to them once he had retrieved the quaffle, reaching the rest of the group at about the same time as Remus.

Sirius, still giddy with their victory, swept Remus up in a hug the second he dismounted the broom. Remus grinned, his face pressed into Sirius’s shoulder, and when Sirius loosened his hold, Remus didn’t even have to think about what he did next.

He hooked his arms around Sirius’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss, smiling into it as he felt Sirius gasp in surprise. Then Sirius pulled him closer, and Remus wanted to jump and run and cheer, but he also didn’t want this to end.

When Sirius finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against Remus’s. Neither of them said anything, just grinned at each other like fools. Peter wolf-whistled from somewhere nearby, and Frank was laughing, and Remus had never been so happy.

On Remus’s left, James spoke. “Was I the only one that didn’t see this coming?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came up with Marauders Quidditch when I was writing the fic Mischief & Matchmaking, but I really really loved it so I ended up putting it here as well :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took almost two weeks, but here's the last chapter! I know it's really short, but I just wanted to do this chapter to wrap up the fic nicely and I didn't feel like it needed to be too long. Enjoy! :)

“Sirius, I’ve explained this to you a million times, you can’t just-” Remus sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay, fine. Tie the stems together. See how far it gets you.”

Sirius grinned at him and continued to mutilate the flower crown in his hands. Remus winced as a large portion of a stem fell off. “I can’t watch, this is just too much.”

James, who was sitting nearby, cackled at the expression on Remus’s face. Peter sat next to him, expertly weaving flowers together. He met Remus’s eyes, and shook his head solemnly at their friend’s ridiculousness. Remus pointed at him. “See guys, Peter can do this properly! Why is it so hard for you two to do it?”

“What do you mean, hard?” James asked. “I already finished mine!” he held up a bedraggled circlet with a few pale blue flowers scattered here and there. Remus watched as a couple drifted to the grass. He looked up at James’s pleased grin and decided not to say anything. He gave James what he hoped came off as an approving smile, and turned to Sirius.

“Moony, I don’t know how I’m supposed to attach the next flower, there’s nowhere to tie it on to.”

“That’s because you tied the stems of the first two together!” Remus rubbed a hand over his face in exasperation. Then he looked back at Sirius, and saw the mischievous grin on his boyfriend’s face. He groaned. “Sirius!” he said, laughing. “Why? Why would you do that?”

Sirius patted him on the shoulder, shaking with laughter. “You’re just so cute when you’re mad, Moony.”

Remus threw himself on the ground with a groan. “I can’t believe my own boyfriend would do this to me.”

“Your what now?” Sirius asked, a bright grin on his face. Remus smiled back just as happily.

“My boyfriend,” he whispered. Sirius leaned down for a kiss, his smile only growing bigger as his lips met Remus’s. He pulled back, ruffled Remus’s hair, and picked up the flower crown again.

“Okay, Moony. Show me how to do this properly.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dduucckk)


End file.
